Crews,

The beating of the head against the wall continues, but Russ and I conversed a couple of nights ago and I think we have come up with a very workable solution to where 1.) you the pilot can still fly with a release, 2.) No delay in getting paperwork, 3.) Fuel planning should actually be more accurate since it will be based on "right now" conditions.

How do we accomplish this?

The plan is, I will be creating a "canned" release for each city pair and appropriate equipment type. The fuel and other sections will be modified to reflect typical FAR part 121 requirements and will be listed in "plain english" to make things easier to decipher.

Each release will be a zero-wind calculation with no alternate. There will be additional info included to show time/burn for 50 kt and 100 kt headwinds, the four nearest alternates to the destination will be listed showing distance/time/fuel burn, and fuel burn for 15/30/45/60min hold times.

As PIC, you will be required to adjust the fuel to add an alternate if needed, as well as any hold/extra fuel desired. The advantage here is that the fuel loading should be more accurate since it will be determined just prior to departure.

Once I have all of these "canned" releases completed we will upload them as a package to where you will have ALL the releases for ALL the city pairs for your fleet type. Whenever you are ready to fly, just use the flight plan paperwork for the city pair that you will be flying. No more waiting!

For the near term I think this will be the best solution available. Your feedback on this idea is appreciated!

Mike C

Sounds good for now Boss!

Sounds good to me.. Thank you gentlemen

Note that is incumbent on the flight crew (particularly you four-stripers) to get at least an idea of the FDs (winds/temps aloft) for your fuel planning. Still, it sounds eminently satisfactory as an interim solution.

Wonderful plan!

Dave,

Thanks for pointing this out. It will be very important to check winds aloft to determine the correction factor needed for the enroute fuel burn.

For example, I have an MCI-ABQ completed to the "new format" and the zero wind enroute burn/time is 10566/01.31. However when you apply 50 and 100 kts of headwind the burn and time goes to 12421/01.48 and 15196/02.15 respectively. Forgetting to adjust for winds aloft could potentially leave you 4600 lbs short on fuel!

Everyone please see the new posting outlining revised fuel and weight sections on the release as well as the options that will be presented to you on the paperwork for fuel planning.

Thanks for the feedback!

Mike C.